Crawfish craze keeps industry on a roll

Shellfish mania: From January to May this year, another 5,000 new restaurants selling crawfish have opened. — China Daily/ANN

SEAFOOD-SAVVY Chinese are eating more crawfish at restaurants and through e-commerce purchases. Resembling small lobsters, the delicacy has been quite popular on Chinese dining tables and for late-night snacks over the years.

May, when crawfish mature, is the start of the peak season for crawfish consumption, and it runs until September. Crawfish can be cooked in various flavours such as spicy, minced garlic, stir-fried ginger and scallion, braised soy sauce, and innovative flavours such as cooking with salted egg yolk, cheese, and fermented bean curd.